Pastor’s Point: Food for thought

The wisest of kings once wrote: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Solomon recorded his thoughts in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and even a cursory reading of its contents gives evidence of their timeless value. What we say matters, and as those who sing a lot of words over the course of time, we would do well to weigh their importance in our song selection for corporate worship.

Here’s a question: Generally speaking, what draws you to a piece of vocal music first—the lyrics or the musical content? For some, it is a provocative melody or a funky or driving beat. For others, it is the turn of a phrase, an expressed thought that seems to resonate with one’s reality at the moment. I remember years ago hearing a tune by Billy Joel called Honesty. It contained a cryptic chorus:

“Honesty is such a lonely word.

Everyone is so untrue.

Honesty is hardly ever heard.

And mostly what I need from you.”

I recall the song really “grabbing” me at the time, because it was part of my experience at that moment.

By contrast, I can remember songs that I used to love to listen to or even dance to (yes, they danced during the Cro-Magnon age!) because of their beat, only to be surprised later to realize I was moving to some pretty raunchy or dubious lyrics.

What’s the point? Music has the power to engage us on a very visceral and emotional level, sometimes because of the message it communicates and other times simply by how it makes us feel. Put in the wrong hands, it can be a very manipulative and even destructive influence. But used judiciously and for a higher purpose, it can lift us, inspire us, comfort us. Look at the lyrics to this simple praise song:

This is the Day

Father, I am weary; I am pleading for your mercy

I am waiting for Your answer,

And I’m struggling with surrender.

But I’m trusting through the darkness that surrounds:

This is the day the Lord has made

I will rejoice I will give thanks

And live my life to bring you praise

This is the day the Lord has made.

Father, through the shadows, I will seek you, I will follow for your glory, for Your Kingdom;

For redemption, and for freedom,

In my weakness, through the power of the cross:

This is the day…

I will carry my cross, carry my cross,

And You will carry me

I will carry my cross, carry my cross,

And You will carry me. This is the day…

What initially drew me to this song was the fact that the worshiper appears to be “singing through” his circumstances, bleak though they might be. He confesses to being “weary, needing mercy, looking for answers…through the darkness.” The words to Psalms 42 and 40 come quickly to mind:

As a deer gets thirsty for streams of water, I truly am thirsty for you, my God. In my heart, I am thirsty for you, the living God. When will I see your face?

Why am I discouraged? Why am I restless? I trust you! And I will praise you again because you help me, and you are my God.

Every day, you are kind, and at night you give me a song as my prayer to you, the living LORD God. You are my mighty rock. Why am I discouraged? Why am I restless? I trust you! And I will praise you again because you help me, and you are my God.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

For those in the worship ministry to stand before the Church week after week and sing truth through our pain, doubts or fear, it is a powerful way of reaching out to God and encouraging the saints. The psalmist says that through the public proclamation of praise, “many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”

In conclusion, love your favorite kinds of music for personal recreation—it’s what makes you unique! But when it comes to music ministry, give me a powerful, truth-filled lyric any day, one which nourishes my soul and “drives the dark of doubt away.” Long after the initial feeling created by the music itself, the words will refresh like ‘apples of gold.’

                                                                                                                             tad

Trees Talk

Pastor’s Point:  Trees Talk

Usually when someone suggests to you that they are having conversations with inanimate objects, you begin to wonder if the porch light is on but nobody’s home. What’s that you say? The trees talk to you? I suppose the flowers whisper your name, too, right?

Actually the notion is not all that far-fetched. Throughout scripture it is suggested that God has intended all along to reveal Himself—to speak to us—through His handiwork. Consider just a few passages:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19

The seas have lifted up, LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice;

the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—

the LORD on high is mighty. Ps. 93

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55

As the summer months allow for us to interact more freely with our natural surroundings, it’s a good time to be a little more intentional about what nature can “say” to us. Consider with me the connection between the tree and the four seasons: summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Here in this one beautiful symbol of life we have all the stages, the actual rhythm of the human experience. And ultimately, we have the reminder that through the use of a tree, God’s redemptive plan for his fallen creation was accomplished, and we are restored. We are made right with Him.

I am reminded of the lyrics to one of my favorite Nicole Nordeman songs, Every Season.* Read along and see if you don’t agree that God’s creative handiwork has a language all its own.

Every evening sky, an invitation to trace the patterned stars.

And early in July, a celebration for freedom is ours.

And I notice You in children’s games, in those who watch them from the shade.

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder. You are summer.

I think of the summer of our days as the best of the best. And it’s not necessarily a confined season or stage of our life. It’s just when life is good, when we’re hitting on all cylinders, and all seems right with the world. This experience comes and goes, but when we’re in the middle of it, we don’t want it to end. It’s also a time filled with discovery and awe.

And even when the trees have just surrendered to the harvest time.

Forfeiting their leaves in late September and sending us inside,

Still I notice You. When change begins and I am braced for colder winds,

I will offer thanks for what has been and what’s to come. You are autumn.

Personally, autumn is my favorite season of the year. The colors, the smells, the cooler temperatures, the activities unique to fall: they all remind me that just because something changes does not mean it can’t be beautiful or purposeful. And I have learned the longer I live, that something wondrous happens even in the process of dying—if I look for it.

And everything in time and under heaven finally falls asleep.

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation shivers underneath.

And still I notice You when branches crack and in my breath on frosted glass.

Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter. You are winter.

I can honestly say this is probably my least favorite season of the year and of life in general. It is often used to describe that stage which precedes our own death, when we fall asleep and are no more. We hear the phrase the winter of our years. Actually, I usually greet the start of winter with enthusiasm. Certain elements, the snow, the warmth of a fireplace, even the beauty of dead trees and vegetation against a white backdrop intrigue me…initially. But then comes the waiting, the frustration of life slowed down, the lack of freedom, the lack of life, the sameness of it all. At times the bitter winds and uncertain conditions seem actually to oppose me in my journey, blocking my forward momentum. But then, it happens:

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced, teaching us to breathe.

And what was frozen through is newly purposed, turning all things green.

So it is with You and how You make me new with every season’s change.

And so it will be as You are recreating me, summer, autumn, winter, spring.

You and I, along with all of God’s creation, are reborn, given a fresh start, awakened to life as it was always intended. Solomon once wrote: “Lo, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone; flowers appear on the earth, and the time for singing has come.” It reminds us that even the bleakest of periods in our lives have an ending point. God is always at work moving us forward. He has made seasons to illustrate the spectrum of our human experiences. And He has made trees, including the one that was used for His own son’s death, to remind us, that in whatever stage we find ourselves, He is at work for our good.

[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins,

might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 NKJV

Let the seasons speak to you. Listen to the trees. And be reminded, God is not finished with you yet.

                                                                                                                                       tad

*“Every Season” © 2000 Ariose Music, Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing